Does anyone have any experience of taking steroid (dexamethasone) during an IVF cycle. My clinic is advising I do but its not sitting comfortably with me. They said that it is so the body doesn't reject the embryo ? I haven't been at that stage of having an embryo transfer before so think they are covering their bases.

Any advice, experience or knowledge very welcome as have to decide whether to take these or not as due to start IVF in next few days.

Julie,
I was on steroids for 2 months before my treatment- 5mg daily of wysolone..And I was given 10 mg starting from the day of Egg Retrieval until 5 days after ET.
After 5 daysof ET, my doctor stopped the dose.
It worked for me, though like you the idea didnt sit well with me as well.
I put one some weight as well- but not much as my doc warned me that could be a side-effect and i was to watch what i ate.
I was told by my doc that this was to make sure my immune system didn't attack my ovaries!!
My FSH has always been fluctuating and was on the high side(15 2 months b4 tmt)and my doc felt that the follicles I produced would not be good enough for IvF if that was the case.So the steroids were to counter that effect.
Didn't make much sense then, but as I'm here, I'm not complaining.
Wishing you lots and lots of Luck with your Treatment.
Hugs,
smita

After my 2nd –ve cycle I was diagnosed with higher levels of natural killer cells, which is what causes your body to reject the embryos. I was prescribed steroids for my 3rd cycle, which I started taking just before EC 3 times a day. I was initially worried about effects on my health as reading the label, the side-effects sounded scary. Have to say though that for the short time I took them (sadly I got a 3rd –ve) I saw no effects other than an increased appetite. IF you are lucky and get pg, then you take them for 3 months and it’s possible you would put on extra weight.

I know that Little P got pg after taking steroids (though I think she had a more intensive treatment including IVIGs) – if you have killer cells then steroids are your way forward. Have you actually been diagnosed with uNKC or have you had previous failed treatments? My clinic won’t suggest them until you have had two fails or m/c (my first cycle was a +ve but I then had a m/c) as steroids aren’t something they would give willy-nilly to every patient. However, short-term use is nothing to be worried about. In a way I wish my clinic had just given them to me as a matter of course for my first cycle as then it’s possible I could have maintained the pregnancy.

I was put on the steroids as soon as I start suppressing. My doc told me it was to help the embryo stick. Didn't help much with my 1st complete cycle. She's now planning to up my dose of dexamethasone next time and hope it works.

Thank you for your experiences on steroids. I have not got to the stage of embryo transfer and not been tested for killer cells either. My problem was a poor response to the stimulation drugs (although my feeling was that after the shut down on buserelin my body didn't pick up) so this time its a flare cycle starting Day 1 with the stimulation drugs. Interesting that some clinics will only give after 2 negatives tests. I feel that my clinic are covering themselves but at the end of the day its my body and they have given me the choice and have decided not to take the steroids. May consider if it does fail for next cycle but not this one. I should be starting any day now but waiting for AF to arrive and then all systems go (hopefully!!!!)